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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Just a quick post today, to let everyone know that the Garden Cross and Square Variation pattern has been added to my Etsy shop. You can see the listing by clicking on the image below or on the Etsy link on my sidebar.

I've expanded the square mat to nine squares now.

My goal is to get it to fifteen squares and then use it under a small picture frame.

Hopefully next week I will have the first Inkscape Diagramming post ready. It will be about creating templates, and I will be providing a free basic template for anyone to download.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The diagrams for the above pattern and the cross are nearly there, and I will try to get them posted to my Etsy shop next week. The patterns are almost identical, so they will be offered as a bundle, for the same price as a single pattern.

I've been using a free program called Inkscape to draw all of my tatting diagrams. As I worked on the cross and square variation, I realized just how confusing Inkscape can be to use. A few tatters have expressed interest in making diagrams, so I've decided to start a series of posts with tips about diagramming with Inkscape. My goal is to make short posts, each dealing with a specific topic.

I don't have any plan on a schedule for these posts, and I think I will keep it that way. I will post them as I write them and make a new tab at the top of the page with links to each tip.

I had a new ball of DMC Cordonnet Special in size 80 just waiting to be made into something. I like the look of the smaller threads for large doilies or expandable pieces. If I have the patience, I will add more squares to this mat to see how it looks as it grows.

Here it is next to the finished cross design. The cross is tatted in Lizbeth size 20, color #623.

A bit of a color clash going on between the pink and the dark green background, but I didn't feel like getting all the card stock out again for a new photo.

Here's the cross next to the drawing that it was based off of.

It took a bunch of tries before getting the stitch counts to where I wanted them, both for the cross and for the square variation. Here's a scan of all of the attempts:

I still need to draw up the diagrams, and then I'm thinking about adding this to my Etsy shop. After that, maybe I will get to work on the hexagonal motif from my Works in Progress post, to see if I can get it posted to my Free Patterns section.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

I'm really trying to keep up with the Stawasz Mega Doily, but I've been so busy these past couple of weeks that I haven't had any time for tatting. And then I had another designing withdrawal, and just had to create something. Designing is more relaxing for me than tatting from a pattern. There are no mistakes to be made because there's no written pattern to follow. Instead, I can cut, tie, make adjustments, tat sloppily, and pretty much do whatever I want. In the end, all the experiments provide useful information for creating a final copy.

Here is my first draft of a design I drew up many months ago. I've only now gotten around to attempting to tat it:

Right now it's crooked and needs a lot more work. I've already written down a bunch of adjustments and will be making many versions of this cross until I find one that I'm satisfied with. That could take a while, but hopefully not too long.

Another nice thing about designing is that executing a pattern is a lot easier when you are the person who came up with it. No guess work at what someone was going for when they made the piece, everything is already in your head. Surprisingly enough, I managed to mess up the above cross more than once...I was getting confused at my own pattern! That's never happened before, so I think that's a sign that this is a tricky sequence to follow.

Anyhow, here is the drawing I am using as a guide to creating this pattern:

I hope to have a more presentable tatted version in the next week or so.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

I've had a very busy week which means I don't have any new tatting to show. I noticed a few bloggers have been posting projects that they call UFOs or Works in Progress, and I thought "I have some of those!" I usually stick to small motifs, so I don't have too many projects that need to be completed, but I do have two larger doilies that I have set aside for 6 months to a year. I do plan to get back to them eventually!

The first is from Jan Stawasz's Tatted Treasures. I believe it is Doily I, but my tatting books are packed away at the moment so I can't double check. Anyhow, it's the doily on the cover of the book. This is how far I was able to get before setting it aside:

Tatted in Lizbeth size 40 white

As you can see, it's getting to be too big to photograph on my card stock. The next round is 25 individual motifs...lots and lots of ends to hide. Here's another picture from above:

The next project is something I was working on designing, from my Mirror, Mirror post. I got distracted by the idea of connecting the motifs together to create a larger doily, but I only got 4 motifs out of 7 done before I moved on to another design idea.

Tatted in Lizbeth size 40 white and green coral sea

I still want to tat the final three motifs and connect them to the bottom, and then add an edging around the doily. Individually, the motifs are appropriately sized for a coaster.

I have a lot of tatting to do before I can get back to these projects. The Stawasz Mega Doily will keep me busy for a long, long time.